


Fun and Games

by Duckgomery



Series: This Old House [10]
Category: Rise of the Guardians (2012)
Genre: Gen, and drinking games, booze, booze solves everything, but then becomes a poor and precious baby, gotta love them, jack is once more a little shit
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-03-21
Updated: 2013-03-21
Packaged: 2017-12-06 00:20:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,084
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/729533
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Duckgomery/pseuds/Duckgomery
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Drinking games are nothing but fun (unlike carb free wednesdays), what could possibly go wrong?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Fun and Games

**Author's Note:**

> As an Australian citizen, it is my birth right to give the Australian character as hard a time as I want.  
> Also, HA, prepare yourselves.  
> That was your warning.  
> Also, more stupid headcannons.  
> Woot.

                As other traditions had arisen between the house’s occupants, including that of movie night no carb Wednesdays, monthly clean-out and fortnightly morning despair (though this was reserved solely for those that inspiration had forsaken or had assignments due the next day) came an event known as spontaneous drinks.

                Each time this tradition, in the loosest sense of the word came about, Tooth would walk into the house after getting back from work, let her heavy bags full of papers clunk to the wooden floor, and cry out shrilly, sure to be heard from all corners of the house, holding her bottle of poison green Midori high, purchased solely for the occasion.

               “Drinks!”

               Instead of just sitting around and drinking in each other’s company Jack, the lover of fun that he was, introduced the concept of drinking games, so as to not make the event ‘boring’ or ‘depressing’. Some occupants took to this shift more than others.

                Pitch would deny this if ever questioned about it.

                As with movie night (and carb free Wednesdays) they all took turns, whether this was picking out or creating a whole new game in which to subject everyone else to.

               The aim of the game was to get wasted after all, and they all wanted to win.      

               Disney movies would never be the same again thanks to the combined force that was Sandy, Jack, and surprisingly Pitch. The trio sure knew how to pick up tropes and other such things to base rules on. It was never a good morning the next day for anyone when the three looked please for themselves.

               This time, though, it was Tooth’s night to pick, and boy, was she looking forward to debuting her latest creation.

               She dubbed it ‘Truth or Drink’.

               It was pretty self-explanatory.

               It is at times like this, when everyone is trickling into the room, arms laden with their choice in drinks, that Tooth wonders if they anticipate these nights and stock up accordingly, or if some of her housemates have a drinking problem.

               Aster plonks down next to Tooth, already having drained a third of his first beer of the evening while North mixes himself up a vodka with a dash of a mixer thrown in as an afterthought.

               Soon enough Sandy and Pitch trail in, cider and rum cradled in their arms respectfully, taking a moment so Pitch can whip up his preferred Bacardi and coke, and another for the resident painter.

               They took care of each other in their own, weird way.

               Though to be honest, they all did.

               As usual, Jack springs into the room last, always feeling the need to make an entrance. He nearly yanks the fridge door off its hinges, balances two trays of jelly shots in his spindly hands. With a well-placed and practised bump of his hip, the door is slam shut, and a cheeky grin spreads across the boy’s face.

               No one knew when he made these up or how he knew to whip them up in advance.

               One thing they could agree on was that they were good.

               No one was going to complain about free shots.

 

               “Okay, now that we’re all here, I’ll explain the rules for this evening,” Tooth wets her mouth with her too strong Midori mix, already feeling the sugar from the drink start to build up on her teeth. She made a mental note to give them a good scrubbing before she nodded off.

               “Well, we’ll all take turns asking questions for the room in general, you have to either tell everyone your honest answer or-”

               Pause for effect

               “-Drink!”

               Cheers sounded from all corners of the room.

               The Game was on.

 

               Two hours later, everyone ranged from a pleasant buzz to giggling on the floor (Aster).

               For an Australian, the chiselled man was a notorious light-weight, which the others abused for various reasons with these games.

               Most of these reasons ended with blackmail.

               Jack (and Pitch) were pros at capturing the most embarrassing behaviour on their phones.

               “Okay, I believe it’s my turn, once again,” Pitch drawls out, a lazy smile spread across his face making him look years younger.

               “Have any of you been out of the country before, and if so, where?”

               Trust Pitch to still have a decent level of coherence despite being on the tipping point.

               At least it was a sloppy question.

               It could have always been worse.

               The earlier rounds had been difficult for everyone.

               “Ah yes, this question easy,” North laughed, his drink sloshing in the process, adding to the sticky mess that had been spilt across the battle weary table top.

               “Been all over world, though born and youth in Russia.”

               “Where else have you been?” Tooth’s curiosity was perked. She had a nasty habit of forgetting personal boundaries and how not to pry when she was inebriated.

               “All across Asia, Europe also spent many years travelling across Arctic Circle back in my youth.”

               “What were you doing up there?” Jack voices from his perch atop the kitchen counter, his bare feet drumming an unsteady beat against the lower cabinet doors.

               “That is story for another time, wasn’t part of question,” North throws back with a twinkle in his eyes.

               Jack groans.

               “You’re no fun, Old Man.”

               Lucky for Jack, he was out of swatting distance.

               “Well, my parents moved to the States from India, so I’ve been back and forth from there, visiting my family and the like. You would not believe how many sisters my mum has.” Tooth laughs, now more of a squawk rather than her usual, restrained giggling.

               “What about you, Aster? Have you travelled the big wide world?”

               Aster snorts from his position on the ground, attention now snatched away from his beer can pyramid.

               He’d just reached the fourth tier and was rather proud of it.

               “What do you think? Born and raised in the land down under.”

               Jack doesn’t mumble anything about hearing thunder or taking cover.

               Not at all.

               “Though that must be totally new information, I know. Though I’ve spent a few years travelling abroad. Hiking in New Zealand, walking through Malaysia, some conservation work in both New Guinea and Africa, and here I am.” Aster spreads his arms wide as he finishes, coming close to knocking over his masterpiece.

               “Sandy? Anything you’d like to share with us, mate?” Tooth snorts at Aster’s question, while the sand groper doesn’t even bother trying to keep his obnoxious laughter under-wraps.

               Sandy flips the both of them off before tossing back one of the jelly shots that Jack had thrown over at the mute man.

               These verbal based games were a way to attempt for everyone to see the pocket sized man intoxicated.

               Only those who were members of fortnightly morning despair were privy to this sight, seeing as that was one of the many rules that surrounded the most secret and sacred of traditions.

               The scowl on Sandy’s face, directed at the two giggling messes, was enough to promise a hell come the morning.

               Revenge was a dish best served loud, and early.

               All eyes turned to Jack, the only one who had yet to answer.

               The youngest member simply winks at them before loosening and swallowing yet another of his dwindling supply of shots.

               That had been his answer to all the questions thrown his way that night.

               It was only a matter of time before his tongue loosened, if the flush on his face and towers of empty shot containers were anything to go by.

               It was a miracle in and of itself that Jack, as scrawny and twig-like as he was, had held his liquor as well as he had.

               Some suspected foul play, judging that he was rather protective of one of his trays of shots. Trust Jack to be a little cheat.

               “What about you, Pitch? Are you well-travelled?” Tooth also had a terrible habit of being inappropriate.

               “Oh that I am,” Pitch shared this habit, but that may have been a terrible combination of his natural demeanour and a relaxed atmosphere.

               “Was sent to a boarding school in England as a child, plus a lot of my young adult years, when I wasn’t stationed overseas.”

               “Wait, were you in the army!?” Jack looked amazed at this revelation, but then who wouldn’t have been. Pitch was the very image of someone who didn’t belong in the military after all.

               “Why yes, yes I was, though I had to leave due to problems at home. Apparently my little Seraphina needed a dad, so I got myself an honourable discharge.”

               “Now this keeps on getting interesting, who’s Seraphina? And what did you do to get kicked out ‘honourably’?” Jack was barely on the bench anymore, leaning so far forward, only his white knuckles kept him anchored.

               “Nuh uh, Jack. As Nicolas said earlier, that wasn’t part of the question,” Pitch cooed, finger waggling at the now disappointed boy.

               “My turn, it’s my turn to ask the question!” Aster crows from beside his monument, looking the part of an every excited pet.

               “Well, spit it out then, come on,” Tooth draws the words out into an almost whine by the end, yet still reaches across the table to refill her too-empty cup.

               Aster squeezes his eyes shut, as if that simple act would make the inspiration for an ideal question come all the quicker. Even his fists were clenched as he thought with all his might.

               Jack bit his fist to stop himself from losing it at the sight.

               Pitch snapped a picture on his phone. Despite it being blurry, it would be enough to give the green-thumb grief come a later date.

               Sandy approved of the picture, a sinister smirk pulling at the corner of his mouth.

               “Okay, got it. Who’s ever had a near death experience? Personally, as a tyke I got myself bitten by a snake. Lucky my old lady caught sight of the bugger and was able to identify it.” Aster laughs, rocking back and finally knocking over the precariously arranged tower, which clattered to the ground.

               “Have you seen how the traffic is in India? The amount of times I’ve almost been run over, you have to love mothers and their lightning fast reflexes.” Tooth joins Aster in laughter, humour being the best way to get through these more serious questions that had a nasty habit of popping up around this stage of the game when people lost that filter that told them that maybe asking this isn’t such a good idea.

               Was only a matter of time.

               North tosses back the remains of his drink, a smile on his face but a melancholic glimmer in his eyes that contradicted. No one decided to pursue the subject though.

               Sandy takes another drink with a frown on his face.

               He hates this game.

               “Well, one of your many questions will be answered, Jack. As it turns out, the conditions behind my honourable discharge meet that set by this question.

               “While on duty, I may have gotten shot, a complete accident, friendly fire if you will. My fault for trusting that one of the new soldiers, or fresh meat as they are called, had enough common sense to aim, or have the safety on, I forget the exact details, except that I got hit about here.” Pitch points to a spot right above his heart.

               “Rather close call, but because they couldn’t get all the shrapnel out, I became a liability and I was sent home, never to be called on again. Oh, you should have seen her face when she opened the door and there I was.” He cut off, looking wistfully at a memory that only he was privy to.

               A moment of melancholic silence rung over the room, Aster still lamenting at this loss of his magnificent feat of engineering.

               “Well, I was technically dead for twenty minutes. Everything around it is a blur, except the cold and that crack, and Emma, she got out alright, wouldn’t have let it go any other way, but her scream-“ Jack cuts himself off, having lost himself in the moment enough that he didn’t realise that he’d spoken out loud.

               With a shaky breath, he slid off the counter and staggered out of the room, hand firmly anchoring him to the wall.

               The others exchange wide eyed looks before a mutual understanding is reached that the game is over for now.

               It’s all fun and games until someone gets hurt, after all.


End file.
